Starting August 1st, all travelers entering the Commonwealth, including out of state residents, Massachusetts residents returning home, and students returning to campus, will be required to comply with a new travel order.
All visitors and Massachusetts residents returning home must fill out a “Massachusetts Travel Form” and quarantine for 14 days unless they are coming from a COVID-19 lower risk state or they can produce a negative COVID-19 test result administered no more than 72 hours prior to arriving in Massachusetts, or they are included in one of the other, limited exemptions. Individuals who get a test must remain in quarantine until they receive their negative test results. Failure to comply may result in a $500 fine per day.
Travelers are exempt from this requirement if they are coming from a state that has been designated by the Department of Public Health as a lower risk COVID-19 state or fall into another narrow exemption category.
Based on current public health data, those lower risk states will include: New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Maine, Rhode Island, Vermont, New Hampshire and Hawaii. The list of lower risk states is subject to change based on public health data, and states may be added or taken off the list at any time.
Traveler exemptions include people passing through the state, people commuting across state lines for work, people traveling to Massachusetts for medical treatment, people complying with military orders, or people traveling to work in federally designated critical infrastructure sectors.
The Commonwealth’s COVID-19 Mandatory Safety Standards for Workplaces has also been updated to incorporate the requirements of the travel order. This included sector-specific updates for lodging, offices, manufacturing, construction, labs, performance venues and indoor and outdoor events relative to the travel order. In addition, lodging operators are required to notify guests about this new travel order.
Prior to travel, people should visit www.mass.gov/matraveler to fill out the “Massachusetts Travel Form” or text “MATraveler” to 888-777.